1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a night vision system of the type which permits vision under very low light conditions by converting incoming infrared and/or visible light from a viewed object to an intensified visible light. More particularly, the present invention relates to a helmet-mounted night vision system that is compact, light in weight and ejection-safe; and which provides the user with numerous additional structural and operational advantages.
2. Background Art
Night vision goggles are commonly used by aircraft pilots and others to permit vision under very low light conditions by converting incoming infrared and/or visible light from a viewed object to an intensified visible light.
Prior night vision goggles were typically heavy, cumbersome and unstable. They often resembled television cameras mounted on the user's head, protruding more than 175 millimeters from the user's eyes, and weighing as much as 850 grams. The weight and front-to-back length of such systems exerted large moments on the user's head, causing serious instability problems and prevented their safe use in many applications where the user's head was likely to be subjected to high gravitational or centrifugal loads. In emergency situations, for example, when ejecting from an aircraft, there was often not sufficient time to remove the goggles before ejection; and the very substantial forces encountered during the ejection were extremely dangerous to the user.
Night vision goggles are frequently mounted to a helmet adapted to be worn by the user. Helmet-mounted goggles avoid the discomfort sometimes encountered when the goggles are attached directly to the head of the user, and provide various other advantages; however, prior helmet-mounted systems also suffer from several inadequacies. For example, in many systems, the structure of the goggles obstructs the user's normal peripheral vision, and thus reduces his field of view. Many systems also interfere with the proper use of a visor which should generally be positioned in front of the eyes at all times, and other necessary equipment such as an oxygen mask or the like. Many systems are also rather complicated in design, difficult to adjust and generally inconvenient to use.